Thursday, March 12, 1998 | 10:22 a.m.
For one of two men who had been on death row for the 1991 shooting death of a Las Vegas woman whose body was doused with gasoline and set afire, his retrial meant the gift of life, but not the gift of freedom.
For the other, it meant only a return to death row.
Robert Byford and Christopher Williams again had been found guilty of first-degree murder in the retrial that had been ordered by the Nevada Supreme Court, but the jury that convicted them split when deciding their punishment.
Byford sat emotionless in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom Wednesday when the jury announced that he should again receive the death sentence. Family members, however, sobbed at the news.
Williams also showed no emotion at the decision that he must spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole.
The difference in the sentences seemed to be that Byford was an ex-felon in a stolen car case and was perceived by jurors to be the instigator of the slaying who had influence over Williams. The jury deliberated for five hours over two days before reaching the decision.
Another jury also had convicted the pair of first-degree murder but sentenced both to death, although the Nevada Supreme Court last year overturned the convictions.
The high court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that the Clark County district attorney's office improperly commented during the original trial on the refusal of the two men to answer questions about the crime after they were arrested, in violation of their Fifth Amendment rights.
In both trials, prosecutors presented evidence proving that Williams, 20 at the time, shot Monica Wilkins in the back on March 8, 1991. Byford, then 17, fired several more shots into the woman before gasoline was poured on her body and ignited.
The key witness at the trials was Todd Smith, who said he did not take part in the killing but was present.
Defense attorneys argued that Smith and the victim were friends and suggested it was Smith who fired the fatal shots and then blamed Byford and Williams to "get even" with them for turning him in for having a stolen motorcycle.
Byford and Williams testified at their first trial that Smith had killed Wilkins and that Byford then set the body on fire in an attempt to conceal what Smith had done. Neither defendant testified at the second trial although some of the earlier testimony was read to the jury.
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